Recent Profile Visitors

The CTSW is a handful on landing in conditions that are not ideal, and gusty winds can be downright treacherous.
You can land a CT in a full stall like a Cessna, but you do it from a much lower height and when it's done flying, it's DONE. If your timing is off you have to goose the throttle to cushion it, or prepare for a "carrier style" landing. There are a lot of ways to land a CT (just look at all the arguments in the "flying and landing" section, lol), and many do prefer the "fly it on" approach.

My CTSW just had the "bare hole" in the firewall when I got it. As soon as I noticed it I put a piece of fire sleeve around the wire bundle where it passed through, and then sealed the sleeve to the firewall with high temp RTV. It's been good to go that way for six years. I didn't know about silicone tape back then, I have used that since for a lot of things and I'd use the tape + RTV is I was doing it today. I like using the RTV as it fixes the tape/sleeve to the firewall so vibration can't cause the sharp edge of the firewall hole to wear through it.

Because you can't tape where the water enters, which is the gap between the flaps and the fuselage. The flaps have to move, so you can't tape there. Look in that gap with the flaps all the way down and you can see directly into the cockpit & baggage bay through the pass-through for the flap actuation tube. There's no way to seal that area up without disabling or introducing drag/binding on the flap system.
In flight this is not an issue because you're moving forward and the water streams away from this area. On the ground in heavy rain you might get some water inside, though I usually don't. Parking with flaps at 0° instead of 15° or more will probably allow the least amount of water to enter. You could also if possible park with the nose pointed slightly uphill and that will help the water drain away from the problem area.

I don't have a huge issue with water in my CT, and it has sat out in (sometimes heavy) rain a few times. I find a little water in the floor, but never more than a cup or two.
When washing, always spray the hose toward the back of the airplane. If you spray the wing roots from the rear, water will blow in through the flap tube openings at the root and spray your whole cockpit and baggage compartment. I spray to the rear only and my airplane is dry as a bone inside after washing. Also obviously close the vent sliders and latch the doors so they seal as well as possible.

Climb up to 5500-6500ft MSL and see if the situation improves. It could just be a reception issue; if so higher altitude = better reception. It's ground clutter like mountains & buildings that interferes with line of sight to the ADS-B ground stations.

Really good point ct9000. You definitely have to do a thorough and careful preflight with any rental.
After 5+ years together I really feel like I know my airplane inside and out, and I really know what to watch out for in preflight and operation.

Sandpiper is dead on! You can't justify a personal airplane financially, no matter much you intend to travel in it. cross country VFR travel plans WILL get crushed by weather as often as they work out.
But owning your own airplane is one of the last remaining frontiers of personal freedom left. You go to the airport, pull out the airplane, taxi, fly, come back and put the airplane away. You don't have to ask anybody for permission or approval, you just go do it. There are no traffic cops patroling and waiting for you to slip up so they can fine you. It's just you and the sky.